The use of pillow supports for the purpose of easing or relieving the pain experienced by patients in their neck and shoulder regions by reason of craniovertebral compression in a supine position is well known. U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,905 issued to Tomasson, for example, teaches an assembled pillow of relatively fixed external configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,088, issued in the name of Boos, also teaches a similarly configured pillow indicated to be useful for therapeutic purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,497 issued to Carswell discloses a multi-piece pillow for use by sun bathers at a beach or lake, such pillow being provided with a recess which receives the user's face in a manner which facilitates face-down breathing. Two different multi-piece constructions for conventional, non-therapeutic pillows are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,239,854 and 3,403,414 issued in the names of Freedlander and Unger, respectively.
Greenawalt U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,310 discloses a unitary pillow construction using components of different firmness but not being readily detachable for replacement with other components to alter the pillows external shape for therapeutic purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,397 issued to Norries teaches a one-piece therapeutic pillow having the same limitations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,377 issued to Fary, Sr. discloses a multi-piece body rest having chest and shoulder supports which may be moved laterally or longitudinally to accommodate corresponding body parts of a person in a face-down supine position. The Fary, Sr. apparatus also teaches a face support having recesses for the user's eyes and a notch for receiving the user's nose to facilitate breathing in the face-down position.
Lastly, Moore's U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,687 teaches a multi-piece apparatus for providing back and neck support, the apparatus having a pillow component of unitary, non-adjustable construction.
My invention overcomes the constructional and use constraints associated with the above-discussed pillow art by providing a pillow which may be custom fit to accommodate a patient's specific problem and is especially useful to orthopedic therapists and orthopedic physicians when prescribing and providing a course of treatment over time to reintroduce natural cervical curvature to the patient's neck and shoulder region.